Toxic Diamonds (The Adventures of Xavier & Vic Book 8)

by Liza O'Connor

  While she agreed it was a very good thing they didn’t die, she still took issue with how a dead guy could kill anyone. She turned to get Xavier’s opinion, but he was gone. “Dammit, we’ve let Xavier run off!”

  Just then a carriage pulled up and Dr. Connors hurried into her house.

  “Where is the patient?” he asked her.

  “I evidently have a dead body next door, but you’re several hours too late to help there,” Vic replied.

  The doctor stared at her as if she had lost her mind, then focused on Gregory. Her butler wasted no time leading him outside where the three drivers were sharing stories. Dr. Connors turned to Gregory. “You said he was near death,” Dr. Connors snapped as he pulled out his watch.

  “I was, but Fagan and Casey saved me,” Davy replied. “Had they waited for you, I’d be dead now.”

  “From what?” Dr. Connors demanded.

  “From the stench in the carriage.”

  “That’s ridiculous!” he snapped and turned to leave.

  “Maybe not,” Vic replied. “I was going to ride in the carriage, only one whiff sent me climbing up on the driver’s bench. But still I was terribly dizzy during the ride home.”

  Her eyes rounded. “Xavier—I think he snuck out and might be in the basement with the dead guy. Whatever this smell is could be killing him as we speak.”

  Without waiting, she and Tubs took off. Gregory yelled for them to wait, but no one listened. In fact, Dr. Connors followed them.

  When they got to the basement door wet putty laid in strips at the bottom of the steps. Seeing the doctor behind Vic, Tubs focused on the doctor. “The door’s been open, so Xavier is probably inside. I can hold my breath a long time. Let me bring him upstairs. Otherwise, I’ll probably have to rescue both of you as well.”

  Vic paused, but Dr. Connors just grabbed her arm and pulled her upstairs. The moment they closed the basement door, her heart wrenched. “What can knock a person out so quickly?”

  “I’m not certain. But chemists have discovered several gases, some of which can be deadly.”

  “Such as?”

  “Such as the gases that form in the sewer lines. That’s why the toilets should have a kink to hold water. It prevents the foul gases from entering into the bathroom and possibly killing the residents in their sleep.”

  Vic began to pace. “Why has Tubs not returned?”

  “Let me go down and see,” Dr. Connors suggested. “We cannot risk you.”

  “Like you aren’t vital as well?” she yelled. She then ran to the door and opened it just as Tubs climbed up the steep stairs with Xavier hanging over his shoulder.

  When he reached the first floor he handed an unconscious Xavier to Dr. Connors, took a deep breath and returned downstairs.

  “Tubs come back!”

  She was about to go after him, only Connors claimed he needed her help to save Xavier. Without another thought, she ran to the doctor and asked how she could help.

  “Let us get him away from the chemicals in this office.”

  Since her eyes were burning, she had no problem with that request, except she could not leave Tubs. Fortunately, before she had to choose, Tubs came up the steps, lifted Xavier into his arms and headed outside. Vic and Dr. Connors followed Tubs to their back yard where he laid Xavier by Davy. Tubs sat down beside the unconscious body of Xavier and looked at the doctor. “Can you save him?”

  “I’m sorry, this is beyond my knowledge. Nor do I know anyone who has expertise in gas poisonings.”

  Tubs sighed heavily and turned his focus to Vic. “Call David. He knows lots of smart people.”

  Vic rushed inside. What was wrong with her thinking? She should have called David right away.

  She ran to Gregory’s room.

  Her friend and brother-in-law answered on the first ring.

  Vic wasted no time getting to the point. “David, Xavier was exposed to a stinky gas and he’s not waking up. Dr. Connors says he has a pulse, but he doesn’t know how to fix him. Do you know of anyone?”

  “Does the gas smell like a sewer?”

  “Yes!”

  “Claire and I will come at once.”

  “With a solution?”

  “Yes. Just move him far away from the source of the gas. What was the source, by the way?”

  “A stinky dead man. I’ll explain when you get here.”

  Vic hung up the telephone and hurried back outside. Xavier remained unconscious.

  She knelt beside him and gripped his hand. “You cannot die on me, especially not from a muddled case, Xavier. You have to live.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Claire and David arrived. Naturally, her sister wished to scold her. “Why on earth do you have Xavier laying out here rather than in your bed?”

  Vic had no answer to her question. She looked around; only Dr. Connors remained. Everyone else had evidently left while she pitifully wept on Xavier’s chest. She didn’t have to worry about shocking David by her behavior. Claire had wasted no time sharing her true gender years ago. It was fortunate that her sister had no lady friends or all of England would know Vic’s secret.

  Claire continued her chiding, but Vic looked to her friend, David, who was talking to Dr. Connors.

  She heard the doctor say, “Excellent idea.” Then he and David secured Xavier’s arms and legs and ported him inside. Vic numbly followed behind, until Claire’s angry voice pierced her numbness.

  “Vic, help me carry this tank!”

  Vic stared at the small cylinder. “What is it?”

  “It’s pure oxygen. Now stop weeping and help me carry this.”

  Vic returned to her sister, grabbed the tank, and hurried to catch up with David and Dr. Connors carrying her beloved.

  Upon carrying Xavier up to the master suite, they laid him on the bed. Dr. Connors quickly opened all the windows while David set up the canister and pushed a tube that was connected to the tank, up Xavier’s long hawkish nose.

  David smiled at Claire, who had finally arrived, and held out his hand. “Claire has been researching Hydrogen sulfide for many years.”

  Claire nodded with excessive pride and began a very long and tedious lecture. Thank God, David had the sense to start the cure before Claire finished her explanation or Xavier would have surely died. Even Dr. Connors was losing patience with Clare. Vic could tell because his forefinger on his right hand was thumping his knees as if tapping in Morse code. She imagined the code said: CEASE THE BABBLING!

  Suddenly, Xavier ripped the tube from his nostril and yelled, “For the love of God, Claire, be quiet! And who put a rubber tube up my nose?”

  Vic immediately threw herself upon his chest. “You’ve come back to me.”

  David was quick to remove Claire from the room and assist her downstairs.

  Dr. Connors hurried to his bag and returned with a spoonful of dusty black powder and a glass of water. “Swallow this.”

  The moment the grey powder fell into his mouth, Xavier grabbed the glass of water and tossed it down his throat. “Gads! That tasted like charcoal.”

  “Activated charcoal, to be precise. It’s an excellent remedy for liquid poisons. While I have never tried it on a gaseous poison before, I don’t think it would do harm, and it might prevent damage to your lungs and heart.”

  Xavier fell into a hacking fit. “Well, it does appear to have found my lungs,” he spoke between coughs. While he cursed incessantly, Dr. Connors gave him a full checkup.

  Xavier focused on Vic. “What happened?”

  “You ran off without me and nearly died.”

  “Doing what?”

  “Evidently forgetting that we work better as a team.” She then explained he had gone to find their dead body without her.

  “Allow me to apologize, for I was clearly a fool to leave without you at my side.”

  Vic was so pleased with his admission, she wrapped her arms about his neck and kissed him with hungry love, never once complaining his mouth tasted like a chimney.
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  However, Dr. Connors objected at once, “Vic, do you mind? I am testing his reflexes. How is a little pin prick going to compete with your kisses?”

  Xavier chuckled and gently pushed her away. “He’s got a point, Vic.” Then he glared at his friend. “Stop with the pin pricks; they hurt.”

  When Xavier swung his feet off the bed, Dr. Connors insisted he lay back down.

  “Sorry, but that is not possible. We have a dead man to study.”

  He smiled when a serious David entered the room. The fellow huffed heavily, then chided Xavier. “I’m glad to see you’re alive, but did you have to yell at my wife? She was only trying to help.”

  “And exactly how was she helping?” Xavier asked. “I couldn’t make heads or tails of anything she said.”

  “That often occurs with the truly brilliant. Fortunately for you, I have the patience to ferret out what my beloved wife is thinking.”

  Dr. Connors sighed. “To be honest, I couldn’t follow her lecture either.”

  “Well, it wouldn’t have mattered if Xavier had woken with an ounce of gratitude. You and Claire are like oil and water. And you, Xavier Thorn, are the explosive oil.”

  Vic didn’t want to get involved in a fight between her best friend and her beloved. “Let’s just move on. I believe we can all agree that almost being murdered in such a tedious manner would put anyone out of sorts.”

  David nodded as he scratched his head. “I am most confused about what happened.”

  Xavier sat up and leaned against the pillows Vic provided. Once she snuggled in the crook of his right arm, he began, “There are some parts that must remain secret, but honestly, I don’t believe they had anything to do with my nearly unspectacular death.”

  Tubs knocked on the door and entered. “Mind if I listen in as well?”

  Vic was about to point out that he was clearly doing that from the other side of the door, or he wouldn’t even know what they were talking about. Frankly, everyone was going to want to know what happened, including Davy and her drivers. “We should just go to the kitchen table and share with everyone. Otherwise, someone in our large family is going to have their feelings hurt.”

  “Vic,” Xavier warned.

  “You’re not going to tell anything confidential. We’ll just start with the shooting.”

  “No, we need to start before that.”

  “Why?” Vic asked.

  “Because of the fellow’s shoes!” Xavier bellowed.

  “Oh, good point. Let’s go to the kitchen and you can explain about the shoes.”

  David spoke up. “And just to be clear, Claire is invited to sit at the table?”

  “Yes, but try to keep her from talking over our explanations, or we’ll never get this stupid story done with. And just so you know up front, this is not an interesting story. So, you will be most disappointed.”

  Tubs huffed. “Seems wrong when so many of us came close to dying and we can’t even have a decent story to tell.”

  “That’s life,” she stated and helped Xavier off the bed. She noticed he still wasn’t firm on his feet, so she wrapped her arm about his waist to steady him.

  Once they made it to the kitchen table, Xavier began the story.

  “We were tracking a young man, but why, I cannot say. I did not notice his feet stank until some person shot him once in the leg and then ran off. He was dead by the time we got to him.”

  Dr. Connors frowned and wrote on his pad.

  “I asked Vic to assist me in carrying the body and putting it in the carriage so we could study the fellow’s belongings today. I truly have no clear reason why that hasn’t happened yet.” Xavier focused on Vic, evidently expecting the fault was hers.

  Vic continued the story. “Given the stench of his feet, I refused to assist in carrying him. Instead, Xavier had to carry him in his arms. He placed him in the carriage and told me to ride along with the body. Only one sniff of the carriage changed my mind and I decided to ride beside Xavier on the driver’s seat. To be honest, the rotten stench of the fellow had sent my head reeling, so I wasn’t thinking my best. When we arrived home, I asked Tubs to put him in the bath, then Xavier and I went to bed. Thankfully, Tubs had the sense to ignore my order and put him somewhere else. Otherwise, I fear everyone in the house might have succumbed to the poisonous gases in their sleep.”

  Vic regretted saying that because her entire staff of females looked ready to find new jobs.

  Gregory spoke at once. “That would not have happened. Had I smelled even a faint whiff of that noxious odor, I would have woken at once and had it removed by Tubs. So, it was quite predictable that Tubs would anticipate my response and move the body elsewhere.”

  Sara hugged Tubs’ arm and smiled at him with pride. The other ladies calmed.

  “So how did Davy and the horses almost die?” Fagan asked.

  Vic pressed Xavier’s leg, asking to handle this question. “As you know, we have very fine carriages, which are impeccably maintained, so once the carriage door is closed, very little air can escape. That means most of the stinky air inside the carriage still remains there.” She focused on Davy. “May I presume you smelled a faint odor and intended to wash the carriage inside and out?”

  Davy nodded. “That is exactly what I tried to do. Only when I opened the carriage door, my brain reeled by the foul smell inside. I was barely able to close the door before I collapsed on the ground. Fortunately, Gregory found me and called for Fagan and Casey to save me and the horses.” He smiled at Gregory. “Thank you for thinking of the horses, too.”

  Vic cleared her throat, to let everyone know she still had more to say. “So, I went to search for everyone and found Davy, Casey, and Fagan, plus our two horses in our tiny backyard, sprawled out on the grass. Well…not the horses. They remained standing.”

  Xavier jumped in, “And while Vic was occupied, I thought it a perfect time to examine the body. Only there was an annoying odor in the stairwell to the basement, which caused my eyes to water and my throat to burn. By the time I removed all the putty that Tubs had used to seal the door from air leakage, I was feeling a bit lightheaded. When I opened the door and got a whiff, I must have fallen unconscious to the floor, for I’ve a painful bruise on my right hip. How long I laid there I have no idea. I re-awoke in my bed, with a tube up my nose.”

  Dr. Connors was once again making a note, then he looked at Tubs. “How did you manage not to succumb to the gas when you put the fellow in the basement and then when you retrieved Xavier?”

  “I can hold my breath for a bit over twenty minutes,” Tubs explained. “When I was a little fellow, my dad used to try to drown me on occasion by pushing my head in a bucket of water, so I got good at holding my breath. If I could hold out twenty minutes, he’d get bored and go drink himself to sleep.”

  Sara gasped and hugged Tubs tightly.

  Vic felt bad for Tubs. He’d had a terrible life before she hired him to work for them. Converting Tubs to the side of good had been her greatest decision. Not only had he saved her life countless times, he turned out to be the very best of men.

  Xavier, having little patience, got the topic back on track. “The remaining question is how are we going to air out the carriage and basement without dying?”

  Tubs shrugged. “The carriage is easy enough. We could drive it to an open field with no one around. I’ll open the downwind door, then go around and open the upwind door, and let the wind sweep out the bad air.” He tugged on his ear. “But I’ve no idea how to get the poison out of the basement. In hindsight, it would have been better if I had left the body in the carriage.”

  “But why did this happen at all?” Claire demanded. “I’ll tell you why. London’s population has exploded, our sewers aren’t keeping up, and the Parliament couldn’t care less. Houses are being built without proper toilets, toxic gases are building beneath our streets and homes. Mark my word. Soon we will be plagued with events like this on a daily basis: people walking by a sewer and literally d
issolving before our eyes. Look what is happening in France. Sewer lines are literally exploding every other day. The workers in the sewer lines are disappearing at a startling rate. Why? Because, like Xavier, they are overcome with hydrogen sulfide. But instead of being saved, they collapse and die in the sewer they were sent to unclog.”

  Everyone stared at Claire in stunned silence, except for David who stared at her with pure adoration.

  “Claire, have you become a reformist?” Xavier asked in surprise.

  “And what if I have? Should not someone step up and make people open their eyes? Should not someone care about our country, the future we are leaving for our children?”

  Gregory stood and looked directly at Claire. “I am greatly pleased you have chosen to use all your brilliance for the good of mankind. I have never been more proud of you than today.”

  Claire blinked several times. “Thank you, Gregory. I am touched by your words.”

  Vic was just happy her sister hadn’t added a scold that servants’ thoughts don’t matter. Vic stood and raised her glass of water. “To Claire, our lady reformist.” To her surprise, Xavier stood as well. “Here, here.”

  Everyone at the table stood and celebrated the new Claire.

  Once they had all returned to their seats, Xavier leaned over to Vic. “We still need to figure out how to remove the gas from the basement.”

  Vic whispered back, “I think between David and Tubs, we can do this.”

  “Well, let us try at once because the body is not getting any fresher,” Xavier snapped.

  David nodded. “Yes, but we must do this right. Hydrogen sulfide is highly flammable and toxic. It quickly becomes lethal if it rises above ten particles per million. I suspect your basement is presently at two hundred particles per million, which is why it knocked you out the moment you entered the room. It would have killed you had Tubs not retrieved you at once.”

  “I agree with David,” Dr. Connors stated. “Xavier, you were nearly dead until we pumped you with oxygen. And you hadn’t been in there but more than a minute.”